Democrats, Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis, Rush Limbaugh, Talk Radio

THEY'RE BAAACK

Carter, Dukakis Return To The Spotlight





Like a stubborn case of the stomach flu, two Democrats from a dark and distant past keep reappearing in the spotlight, just as most Americans thought (hoped?) they'd vanished for good.

Yes, if you'd thought we'd seen the last of both former President Jimmy Carter and even 1988 candidate Michael Dukakis, consider yourself wrong.

Carter, for one, can't seem to keep himself out of the news this month, from his son Jack's lopsided Democrat Party primary victory for US Senate in Nevada (he'll next take on GOP Senator John Ensign in November), the decision by judicial appointee District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor to end warrantless wiretapping, to his now- infamous Der Spiegel interview.

Carter told the German publication that the United States and Israel stand alone in the world and that the latter's attack on Lebanon has been wholly without justification.


For talk titan Rush Limbaugh, that interview provided tremendous fodder for Thursday's show. From his official transcript:

RUSH: If you're just joining us, ladies and gentlemen, I'm fit to be tied today. I've had it with the constant drumbeat of negativity, enraged, irrational madness that embodies itself in a hatred of George W. Bush by a bunch of people that have not the slightest clue what they would do differently about anything.

Jimmy Carter is engaging in traitorous conduct in my opinion with an interview that he has granted to der Spiegel magazine, and I guess he's got a new book out. Let's pick up this interview where we last left it, at the conclusion of the previous hour. Jimmy Carter says, "Another very serious departure from past policies," that all of us ex-presidents did that Bush doesn't do "is the separation of church and state, which I describe in the book."

I have no clue what he is talking about. He doesn't describe it here. I'm not going to read his stupid book. I don't need to know what the guy believes. He said, "This has been a policy since the time of Thomas Jefferson and my own religious beliefs are compatible --"

Separation of church and state? What the hell is going on in this country is the exact opposite. We have people who are doing their best to squander a particular religion they don't like. Separation of church and state, for crying out loud! If these people had their way, there wouldn't be any religious freedom in this country, to get down to brass tacks.

"The other principle that I described in the book," Carter says, "is basic justice. We've never had an administration before that so overtly and clearly and consistently passed tax reform bills that were uniquely targeted to benefit the richest people in our country at the expense or the detriment of the working families of America," and here Mr. Carter demonstrates just pure ignorance.

Can he not see what is happening in the US economy? Does he not see the growth of the world economy, even after 9/11, even with terrorism out there? Does he not see the 15% increase in the United States GDP? Does he not know all of the increased tax revenues flowing into his precious government because these tax cuts? All we have done is increased employment, we're at 4.8% employment, Mr. Carter.

What was it when you were ruining the country? You tell me, sir, what was employment? What were interest rates, you expert? You've got all the answers, sitting around in your Cardigan sweater with the thermostat at 68 degrees in the wintertime. Bah, humbug, sir!

This is absolutely ridiculous. He is parading his abject ignorance. He gets a Nobel Peace Prize for it. Wages are up in this country. Affluence in this country has never been higher. The standard of living has never been higher -- and he sits here and talks about the immorality of tax cuts for the rich? Tell me, sir, do you think
the capital gains tax cut has anything to do with sur- prising revenues flowing into the trea- sury?

The projected deficit is smaller; experts are stunned every month when employment or other economic figures are released.

You sit there in Germany and you dare to criticize this economy when you ruined the US economy for four years? We had gasoline lines, we had 14% inflation, we had interest rates that were approaching 20%. It was so bad, sir, during your great presidency, we had to come up with the misery index to quantify and explain it -- and your presidency was called that of malaise and you're the one that named it. (interruption) What? Well, of course he blames it all on the people. Liberals always blame everything on the people! The people are stupid; the people don't know what they're doing. The people didn't understand the gift that God had given them in the Jimmy Carter presidency.

Der Spiegel: "You also mentioned the hatred for the United States throughout the Arab world which has ensued as a result of the invasion of Iraq. Given this circumstance, does it come as any surprise that Washington's call for democracy in the Middle East has been discredited?"

Carter: "No, as a matter of fact, the concerns I exposed have gotten even worse now with the United States supporting and encouraging Israel in its unjustified attack on Lebanon."

Let's go back to the question: "You also mentioned the hatred for the United States throughout the Arab world which has ensued as a result of the invasion of Iraq." Again, a stupid question! What was 9/11? Did it not happen as far as these people are concerned? We had not gone into Iraq. George Bush had been president for barely six months, nine months, whatever when 9/11 happened.

Also back in the game these days is none other than Michael Dukakis. From travels down his own political memory lane, to a "see, I told you so!" approach to Bay State politics, the failed 1988 presidential candidate is suddenly everywhere, between talk radio, television and print media in New England.

Need a guest for your talk show? Ready for action, Dukakis is standing by his phone.

Have room on your Op-Ed page? Call Mike!

In addition, sympathetic leftists (including those in the news media) are busy revisiting his failed campaign to explore how mean- spirited righties unfairly destroyed his political career. Even the specifics of the Willie Horton controversy are now being rewritten for the mainstream media's sake. Meanwhile, on the Republican side, his mistakes are being analyzed for the sake of Lt Governor Kerry Healey's gubernatorial campaign.

Apparently, we're not alone in noticing the strange sight of Dukakis 2.0. From a piece by limited taxation advocate Barbara Anderson in the Lowell Sun:

Fortunately, Mitt Romney is now in charge of the Big Dig, and is clearly in his element when addressing a crisis. And for contrast, we have former Democratic Gov. Michael Dukakis, returned to rewrite history.

He is everywhere, on television, talk radio, in newspaper articles, insisting that the Big Digaster wouldn't have happened if the Republican governors had listened to him: They should have kept his transportation secretary, Fred Salvucci, to run it right and for his estimated $2.4 billion cost.

Michael, you can't rewrite history until everyone who actually lived it and remembers it is dead. And I'm not.

As for the mismanagement, Salvucci blames Proposition 2 1/2 for cuts in the state Department of Public Works Department. Prop 2 1/2 limits only local taxes but, in fact, state spending for itself was indeed cut in 1981 to give more local aid to the cities and towns. I heard from DPW engineers that year, complaining that they were being laid off while legislative-supported hacks were protected. But the state economy was creating surpluses when Salvucci put the DPW in charge of Bechtel in the mid-1980s, apparently without checking to see if engineers were available for oversight.

And though those of us who disputed the $2.4 billion estimate were called "naysayers" at the time, it didn't even last through the Dukakis administration, increasing to $4.4 billion by 1990.

When the Legislature leaves next week, Dukakis should go away, too.

Somehow, it doesn't appear that he will go away anytime soon. What's it all about, his political legacy, a fresh need to again take the stage, or some other as- yet unknown reason?

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